Literature Circle Roles Discussion Director Illuminator Illustrator Connector Word Watcher Summarizer Test Question Generator

Discussion Director Sample Questions: Your role demands that you identify the important aspects of your assigned reading(s) and develop questions for your group to discuss. Focus on the major themes or “big ideas” in the reading(s) and your reaction(s) to those ideas. Make sure to answer your own question. You are also responsible for facilitating your group’s discussion Sample Questions: What did the reading(s) make you think about? What do you think the reading(s) was about? What are the most important ideas/moments in the reading(s)?

Illuminator Your role is to find passages that your group would like/should hear read aloud. These passages should be memorable, interesting, puzzling, funny, or important. Your notes should include the quotations but also why you chose them and what you want to say about them. You can either read the passage aloud or ask members of your group to read roles Sample Questions How might other people think about the passage? What one question would you ask the writer if you got the chance? Why? What does this quote mean to you?

Illustrator Sample Questions As members of your group, “what do you think this picture means to you?” How does the drawing relate to the reading(s)? Why did you choose to draw it the way you did? What do you see… i.e., who and/or what is in this picture? What, if any, did drawing it help you see that you had not noticed before? What are you trying to accomplish though this drawing? Your role is to draw what you read. This might mean drawing a scene as a cartoon-like sequence so readers can better understand the action. You can draw maps or organization trees to show how one person, place or events relate to the others. Label your drawing(s).

Connector Your job is to connect what you are reading with what you are studying or with the world outside of school. You can connect the reading to events in your own life, news events, political events, or popular trends. Another important source of connection are books you've already read. The connection should be meaningful to you and those in your group. Sample Questions What connections can you make to your own life? What other places or people could you compare this story to? What other books or stores might you compare to this one? What other characters or authors might you compare to this one?

Word Watcher Sample Questions Which words are used frequently? Which words are used in unusual ways? What words see to have special meaning to the author? What new words do you find in these chapters? What words are essential to understand? Your role is to watch out for words worth knowing from your reading(s). These words might be interesting, new, important, or used in unusual ways. It is important to both define the words and indicate the specific location of the words (page or paragraph number) so the group can discuss these words in context.

Summarizer Your role is to prepare a brief summary of the reading(s). Use the questions to the right to help you decide what to include. In some cases, you might ask yourself what details are so important that they would be included on your test. Sample Questions What are the most important details in the section you read? What makes them so important? What are the key components/parts that you should include?

Test Question Generator Prepare a few questions that you believe test one’s knowledge of the essential parts of the reading(s). Questions can be multiple choice, true or false… Make sure to answer your own questions. Sample Questions What questions might appear on a test about this section of your reading? What might be a good short answer question?